bring a bright morning,"
she added, so positively that Mrs. Sprague sent Rafael to buy the
tickets, in order that they might be ready for an early start.

Although it was the last week in December the air was soft and warm,
and the sun shone with the brightness of summer.

From Naples to the foot of Mt. Vesuvius there was first a drive of
several hours, after which they went up to the crater over an inclined
railway.

"It is like looking at the entrance to the underworld," said Edith, as
they looked down into the great chasm which holds so much mystery and
terror; and she was glad to take the train back to the foot of the
mountain.

As they stood looking at the great beds of lava which poured down the
sides of the mountain many years ago, Edith exclaimed, "How can any
one dare to live near the volcano?"

Rafael turned to a peasant whose little farm was not far away, and
asked him if he ever felt free from danger.

"Ah, no!" the man answered, lifting sad eyes and hands to heaven.
"When I go to sleep at night I think always, before the light of the
morning, the mountain, he may send his fire and stones to crush us
all; who knows?"

"Why did the people of Pompeii live so near to Vesuvius, if they knew
it might bury them?" Edith asked impatiently.

"They did not know it in the days when Pompeii was built," Rafael told
her. "Vesuvius was supposed to be an extinct volcano then. It had not
said a word for hundreds of years. Everything about it was green and
beautiful, and its slopes were covered with forests and vineyards. It
is not strange that people built the two cities near its base."

"What other city was built, besides Pompeii?" asked the girl.

"Herculaneum," answered Rafael. "None of the people felt any fear of
danger in the two cities, although an earthquake destroyed some of the
buildings in the reign of Nero.

"But in the year 79 A. D., Vesuvius suddenly woke up, and there was a
fearful eruption. Ashes and rocks were thrown out of the crater with
great force, and hot lava poured down the side of the mountain. The
two cities at the foot were completely buried under the ashes, and
thousands of people were killed."

"There was an eruption in 1906, which made many people homeless," said
Mrs. Sprague, "and no one knows when there may be another.

"Pompeii lay buried for seventeen centuries, and people forgot that
there had been such a city; when, after a long time, a farmer who was
digging for a well di